Race to the Finish
by McMuffinGreys
Summary: It has been a year since the plane crash and Arizona Robbins has started to recover. With help from Callie, she realises what she wants and enters in the Paralympic Games. Set in season 10 (no cheating EVER happened with Lauren Boswell). Other characters may appear...
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: It has been a year since the plane crash and Arizona Robbins has started to recover. With help from Callie, she realises what she wants and enters in the Paralympic Games. Set in season 10 (no cheating EVER happened with Lauren Boswell). Other characters may appear...**

**Disclaimer: All characters from Grey's Anatomy belong to Shonda Rhimes and the rest of their amazing crew along with the canon storylines (such as the relationships). Thanks**

**A/N: Heys Guys, this is my first fanfic so no hate please. I came up with the idea of a SL Shonda should do and someone said I should write it as a fanfic so I became inspired :) I would really appreciate any comments and i'll continue if I get some positive ones :) sit back and enjoy...**

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Grey Sloan Memorial hospital was having one of its busiest days in a long time and Arizona Robbins was in the middle of it all, shouting out orders. A school bus had crashed into the side of its own building, resulting in many casualties and surgical patients. As the head of paediatrics, Arizona was running round making sure everything was in order before she would head up to the OR for her own mass of surgeries.

"Hey babe," Callie called as she rounded the corner of the pit and saw Arizona barking orders at Karev.

"Oh, hey," she replied as she turned around, "I'm just on my way to scrub in for a splenectomy, and then maybe coffee?"

"Absolutely," Callie said, revealing her mega-watt smile.

"Karev, she's got auscultated bowel sounds in the thorax. Take her down for a CT and page me if you need anything, I'm off to surgery."

"Sure thing boss," Alex replied as he wheeled the patient off to radiology.

"Fancy walking with me?" Arizona asked Callie, grinning as she finally slowed down to look at her wife. They walked up to the OR and split ways and the brunette headed to OR 2 and her wife sped off to OR 4.

Arizona rocked her spleen removal but just as she was scrubbing out, she was paged to OR 1 to help with another surgery and things went like that for the next 8 hours. It seemed that the coffee she was craving was going to have to wait. She was deep in the chest of a 14 year old when she got a page from her wife.

"What've we got?" Arizona asked as she burst through the doors of the operating room.

"Uh…" Callie hesitated, not wanting to reveal what exactly she was operating on.

"Callie, what is it?"

Callie's eyes darted down to the patient; she really did need Arizona's help but she didn't know how the blonde would react. Finally relenting, pushing her own issues aside, she said, "femur fracture. I need your help getting in there and I know you're busy but-"

Arizona smiled at her clearly flustered wife, "Calliope,"

"I can call Karev but I know he's in OR 3-"

"Calliope, listen to me,"

"Don't worry about it; I'll call Wilson, or Ross,"

"A first year resident is not going to help you operate on this child," Arizona interrupted. She could see Callie was about to protest so she spoke up, "Calliope, it's been over a year since the crash. I have gotten over my injuries and I am not going to let some hissy help you save this child's life. I'm not going to break down on you and we are going to have fun because I haven't seen you in hours and I want to spend some time with my wife." She then turned to the scrub nurse who helped her into her gloves and she took a place up to the table, opposite the brunette. Callie smiled and continued working on the girl's leg. At the end of the surgery, Arizona was scrubbing out when Callie walked through the doors, pulling off her surgical mask.

"I'm sorry about that before," she started.

"Cal, I know you're worried about me going crazy on you but really, I'm fine."

"I know that, I do, really but I just worry about you. Because I love you," the brunette replied. Arizona smiled and leaned in to give her wife a kiss on the lips, more heated than just a peck and she pulled away grinning.

"You do, do you?" Arizona teased.

"Mmhmm," Callie said dazedly, her eyes still closed.

"I love you, too," the blonde whispered, "Now let's get you home, all our surgeries are done and I'm starving."

"Me too," the brunette replied, insinuatingly, a grin spreading wide over her face. Arizona slapped her wife playfully across the arm, "for food, Calliope, get your mind out of the gutter!"

When they got home, at around 10pm, Callie started on preparing some dinner for the two of them while Arizona took off her leg on the sofa, across from her wife. She winced as the prosthetic came off and was immediately flooded with the relief brought on by the cool air of the room, as it soothed her aching left leg.

"Is it painful?" Callie asked as she put some frozen meals in the microwave for them.

"Just a little sore," the blonde replied, "all that running around between ORs is harder when one leg is plastic." Arizona leaned back into the cushions and let out a gush of air as her eyes closed.

"Do you want me take a look at it?" Callie asked, concern covering all of her features. She walked around the breakfast bar and sat on the edge of the coffee table, ready to help in any way she could. Arizona pondered the idea of her wife's miraculous Ortho hands manipulating The Stump until it felt amazing. The Stump was what she had begun to call it in all of those months she was crawled up in her own cocoon, not letting anybody else in. It was rather crude but it had stuck, and she had decided to call it that, out of hatred for the way the good half of her leg had been ripped from her in that disastrous plane crash that took the lives of two of her closest friends. Despite the breakthrough her and her wife had stormed through, when Callie had practically forced her down and massaged The Stump, Arizona still felt quite self-conscious with it and tried, whenever she could, to keep it as far away from her wife as possible. It was like some toxic half-limb that seemed to ruin all the good things in her life.

"No thanks, its fine," Arizona opened her eyes to see her wife looking down at her, concern and worry evident on her face, "really, Callie, I know you want to help but I don't need it and its really fine so stop worrying." Callie was clearly not buying any of it, but she didn't want to aggravate her wife any more than she already had done that day.

"But-" The microwave beeped, interrupting her and she sighed before finishing their meal. Arizona seemed to take Callie's concern as pity and the dark feelings she had tried so hard to get rid of came flooding back. They ate in silence, the tension building between them. All that could be heard was the scraping of their forks against the plates and the whirring of Callie's laptop, left on standby by front door. After Callie had had enough of the awkwardness, she decided to break the quiet.

"Do you think Mer and Derek are gonna be okay with Sofia tonight?"

"Well, it's a little late to go and get her now, don't you think?" Arizona snapped back. She instantly regretted the harsh words that came out of her mouth but couldn't think of a way to undo them.

"Great, so we're back to cruel and distant Arizona. The non-existent wife who seems to have an opinion of every little thought of mine. I said I was sorry about earlier today and I know you don't really accept my apology but I'd rather you just say that than mentally disentangle yourself from our relationship." Her voice had risen to a shout and before she could let Arizona get a word in edgeways, she stood up, clanked her plate in the dishwasher and stormed into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Arizona sighed and dropped her head in her hands. How had life gotten so screwed up? How was she happy and loving towards her wife one minute, and snappy and horrible the next? She knew her behaviour was uncalled for but she couldn't seem to stop it. The Stump ruled everything in her life and although her infection was gone with the other half of her leg, it had seemed to still find a way to infect everything else around her. She decided to give the brunette a while to cool off, so she cleared away the kitchen and sat in her own bubble of self-pity to pass the time. When she heard the tell-tale signs of her wife's sobs, she decided that enough was enough. She wheeled herself in the wheelchair to the bedroom door, and slowly opened it. What she found made her heart clench fiercely; the brunette was curled in a ball, facing away from her and her whole body was shuddering with spasms of grief.

"Oh, Callie," Arizona started, she wheeled herself up to the side of the bed her wife was not facing and tried to will Callie to look at her.

"What, Arizona? What could you possibly have to say to me now?" she hiccupped through her tears. Arizona was at a loss for words, she didn't know where to start or what to say.

"Exactly. Just what I thought," Callie said as the silence continued for a few seconds.

"My leg reminds me of Tim," Arizona started, finally having released the words that had been gnawing at her for months, encroaching on her dreams.

"What?" Callie asked with disbelief and shock clear in her tone.

"Let me say this," the blonde answered, "Now, I know this is no excuse for how I have behaved towards you, and I am so deeply, deeply sorry for how I have hurt you, but I want to tell you this. The Stu… my leg, half leg, reminds me of my brother, Timothy." Arizona could feel the confusion of her wife and she continued to reveal the truth nonetheless, "when we were younger we used to race everywhere. Mum and the Colonel literally had to use those leads that you can put on children at one point. We would run to school and to park afterwards on our way home. That was when we were stationed in Berlin; we were about six and I was always faster so I would win every time," Arizona smiled at the memory and Callie turned around, looking blankly into the face of her wife.

"When we moved to Hawaii, we were both around fourteen and that was when Tim had his growth spurt. He built muscle onto his lean form and became stronger; my speed wasn't enough to out-win his strength. I still held my own, don't get me wrong," Callie chuckled at Arizona's insistence, her tears finally stopping, "We set up this course round some of the buildings and gathered some of the other kids and had our own race. There were about eleven of us and we got the parents and some of the other residents to pay to come and watch us. By the end it was just me and Tim, all the others were way behind us and I can tell you now, I never ran so hard in my entire life," she paused, taking a moment to reflect on the flood of memories that had come crashing back.

"It was a tie," Arizona continued, "between Tim and me. After that day, our parents convinced us to enter professional races; we ran marathons and would go running every morning. When I moved to Baltimore to go to Johns Hopkins and Tim enlisted, we didn't have the time for one another anymore, but we would run every morning and Skype where we could to share our times. Tim obviously continued to beat me, as he was training in the army I sort of expected it, but me being me, I can't say it didn't sting a little." Arizona paused and Callie just sat there, waiting for what was coming next.

"When," the blonde chocked up and Callie placed a reassuring hand on her wife's arm. Arizona smiled and tried again, "when he died, I didn't know how to go on. Nick came home and I can honestly say he was my rock but he still couldn't fill this void that Tim had left behind. He left me behind, Callie," the blonde's voice broke and a tear fell down her cheek, Callie sat patiently, not wanting to interrupt this moment for her wife, glad that she was opening up and hoping this could explain some of her behaviour.

"I dealt with his loss through running," Arizona continued, "I entered every race I could think of for charity and ran every morning and night. It was how I processed everything; running would help me think of the good memories I had with my brother and I learned to accept that he was dead."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Callie asked tenderly.

"I know you know I went running every day, when I could, but I never felt comfortable in telling you why; it was a part of just me and Tim and I didn't want to share him. And then, when the plane crashed and I physically couldn't run it felt like I was losing a part of Tim all over again along with myself- it was torturous." Arizona looked up from where she had been fiddling with a corner of the blanket and stared into the deep, chocolate pools of her wife's eyes, seeing only love and compassion looking back at her.

"I'm sorry I'm such a horrible wife," she whispered. Callie shook her head and smiled, "you're not, sweetie. You just need to tell me these things so we can work through them together; don't shut me out."

Arizona nodded and got into bed beside her wife when she patted the space beside her, inviting the blonde in.

"I love you," Arizona said, wrapping her wife's arm around her waist and kissing the back of her hand. She could feel the brunette smiling into her neck and she tightened her hold around the blonde's body.

"I love you too. And at the rate you were going today, you'll probably be running in the Olympics soon enough," Callie chuckled.

As her wife drifted into a peaceful sleep, Arizona couldn't stop thinking about her wife's words.

"Why not?" she thought as she closed her eyes, finally succumbing to a sleep filled with the memories of her brother, their races and her wife's supportive smile.

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**So...? Any thoughts?**


	2. Chapter 2

Summary: It has been a year since the plane crash and Arizona Robbins has started to recover. With help from Callie, she realises what she wants and enters in the Paralympic Games. Set in season 10 (no cheating EVER happened with Lauren Boswell). Other characters may appear...

Disclaimer: All characters from Grey's Anatomy belong to Shonda Rhimes and the rest of their amazing crew along with the canon storylines (such as the relationships). Thanks

**AN: I just want to thank absolutely everyone who reviewed. All positive feedback so thanks to you guys, I have decided to carry on with Calzona's story…**

**AN2: AnnaBir, I just wanted to let you know that I am doing as much research as I can into how the Paralympics work (the same goes for the medical aspect of things); I don't really know much so I will do my best but if I get anything wrong, please let me know and if it doesn't affect the storyline then I will be happy to change it.**

**Sit back and enjoy…**

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Over the next few weeks, Callie and Arizona worked on their relationship. Although Callie knew they were making progress and Arizona hadn't snapped at her once, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off with her wife. Without shutting the brunette out and absenting herself from their relationship, Callie thought she was somehow distancing herself from her wife and everything else. She was focussed at work and was flawless in the OR. She was even all in when they were alone together but there were moments during the day, like when they were eating in the cafeteria or when they were watching TV with Sofia at home, when Callie saw her wife blank out and drift off into another land when she thought no one was looking.

Callie did not know what to do; should she confront her wife and risk an argument or keep letting her live in another land, not knowing what was going on?

They were eating lunch with Meredith and Derek in the Attendings' lounge when it happened again.

"So basically you can't breathe without having a genius idea then," Meredith said as Derek was explaining his theory for the paraplegic project Callie and he were working on. They all laughed except for Arizona who was staring blankly into her coffee. Callie nudged her with her elbow and she came back from wherever she had gone to.

"Hey, you okay?" Callie asked.

"Yeah, I'm great," the blonde smiled back, plastering on a forced smile before returning to staring into the deep pools of her coffee. Derek continued talking about their project but Callie was less invested and Meredith noticed the tense atmosphere between the other married couple.

"Hey, why don't we go check on Zola and Bailey before my next surgery, I haven't seen them since this morning and I think I'm getting withdrawal symptoms." Meredith got out of her chair, dragging Derek with her and then looked over to Callie who gave her a smile and mouthed 'thank you'. Just as the door clicked behind the McDreamies did Arizona zone back into reality. She took a sip of her lukewarm coffee and scowled in distaste.

"Arizona, what's going on?" Callie asked, exasperated.

"I don't know what you mean," she replied, "I'm great, we're great," and she leaned over and pecked her wife on the cheek. Arizona had tried very hard over the last couple of weeks to forget what Callie had said that one night when they had had a breakdown as a couple. She revealed some secrets of her past to her wife and ever since, she couldn't seem to ignore what her wife had also said to her.

"Well you're fine now but you were a million miles away just a minute ago," the brunette said, "I don't understand. Just tell me, you said you wouldn't shut me out."

"I'm not shutting you out, I'm right here," the blonde said hesitantly, unsure what her wife was getting at.

"Yeah but that's the thing. You acting all passive aggressive about whatever is getting to you _is_ you shutting me out. Please sweetie, just tell me." Desperation was evident in her voice and once again Arizona was struck with another wave of guilt at being the hands that hurt her wife. She signed in resignation.

"Okay…" she began, "I want to tell you but don't laugh at me, okay?"

"Why would I laugh at you?" Callie asked in confusion.

"Just promise me, please?" The vulnerability covered the blonde's features and Callie recognised the seriousness of their conversation.

"Yes, of course, I promise."

"Right, okay," Arizona nodded, "ever since the other day when I told you about running with Tim, I've had a thought. A great big nagging thought that has had me thinking of hardly anything else ever since." The blonde stood up and poured herself another cup of coffee; Callie sat quietly, once again waiting patiently for her wife to open up.

"It's going to sound crazy and I want you to know that I know it sounds crazy."

"Okay…"

"I've had an idea. Actually you had the idea and I've sort of thought up a plan. No, scrap that. I don't have a plan and that's why this is gonna sound crazy."

"Arizona-"

"You said I could enter the Olympics. And, that won't be possible but I thought maybe I could try out for the Paralympics." Arizona sucked in a deep breath and bashfully looked up to see Callie's face frozen in shock.

Callie couldn't believe what she was hearing; all this time Arizona had been afraid of looking at her leg- she called it The Stump for crying out loud. She knew that the blonde had been trying and slowly began to let her wife in and massage it when it became sore. And now, now she wanted to use it; broadcast it for the entire world to see and actually use it for something good. Yes, Callie was in shock, but it was a good shock that made her swell with pride at the thought of what her wife wanted to do.

However, Arizona took the silence to mean something bad and grabbed her coffee and stood.

"You know what; I knew it was a bad idea. I have a surgery. Bye," she called as she scrambled out of the room. Callie sat dumbfounded behind her but smiled nonetheless; her wife was going to try out for the Paralympics now, especially if Callie had anything to do with it.

The blonde spent the day in surgeries, not having another opportunity to look for and talk to her wife. What had she been thinking; of course Callie was going to think she was stupid. Not just anybody could enter the Paralympics. She hadn't exactly laid down any of what she had been thinking though- she would need a coach, she would need to call David for a special prosthesis. She knew she couldn't just up and try out for Paralympics; she would need to start at just running round the block and then maybe enter some small town charity races before upping her game and becoming big.

Later that day Arizona was regretting walking out on her wife as walked into Exam Room 2 to find one of her closest friends sitting over a patient as she was calling out orders.

"Teddy, what do you need?" she asked. She tied her hair up quickly into a messy bun, snapping on a pair of gloves.

"G.S.W to the chest. Wheel the gurney out of here now. GO, NOW!" she shouted as Dr Ross and Dr Edwards pushed the gurney towards the elevator. Arizona hurried along behind them.

"Why am I here?" she asked, wondering she had been paged onto a cardio case.

"He's 15," Teddy replied, looking over her shoulder at her best friend. That was when Arizona heard the gut-wrenching screams of agony of someone behind her. She turned to see Hunt and Webber trying to restrain a woman, dressed in a floor length, orange skirt with a purple shirt hung loosely over the top, as she was straining against them, reaching out in the direction of the elevator. Arizona turned her back on the woman and hopped into the elevator behind her friend.

"Come on, come on, come on," Teddy murmured as they slowly rose up to the floor of the OR; her hands were still plastered to the patient's chest, over the gaping wound. As soon as the elevator dinged they raced out through the doors and into the OR.

"We won't have time to scrub, Teds," Arizona added.

"I know, I know. Let's just go." Fortunately, Hunt had already called up and the room was prepped for a cardiac procedure. The boy was transferred onto the OR bed and Teddy jumped off his body as the nurses dressed her in her gown.

"Let's do this Arizona," Teddy said and Arizona nodded, "Okay, making the incision over the sternum." They got started and 15 year old Jay Kinley survived the operation thanks to the incredible hands of the two blonde surgeons.

Teddy was leaning against the scrub room sink, rolling her shoulders and releasing the tension that had built up from the stress of the trauma. Arizona walked through the doors that opened automatically and smiled at her friend as she started to scrub out.

"Wow," she said, reflecting on the surgery they had both rocked.

"Yeah," Teddy replied, "That was pretty intense."

"We were awesome!" the paeds surgeon exclaimed, "I could do that all over again."

Teddy raised her eyebrows and stared at her friend. "That's not because you are avoiding your wife by any chance is it?"

Arizona snapped her head toward her friend and her mouth opened in surprise.

"She came running to me this morning after you ditched her, telling me she thought she had upset you. She also told me something else," Teddy smirked as Arizona sighed.

"I know, it's stupid and there is no way in a million years that I would stand a chance at being placed in the games but it's just something I can't seem to get out of my head, you know?" Teddy looked sympathetically at the blonde but she just rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Don't look at me like that," she snapped, "I don't need your pity."

Teddy lifted her arms up defensively.

"Hey, hey, don't get your panties in a twist, I don't pity you. I want you to be happy; you're my best friend, Arizona and I want you to get everything you've ever wanted. If that involves running to absolutely nowhere in an arena with other people running to absolutely nowhere then I will support you until you win that gold medal."

Arizona laughed and hugged Teddy tightly.

"I love you, Teds," as she squeezed her even tighter. Teddy snorted into her friends back.

"Not too much I hope," she laughed, "I'm a married woman, you know. I know I have this…allure but that doesn't mean I'm ready to go gay, even for you."

"Yeah, yeah whatever," Arizona pushed her friend away. Her mock frown faded into a sincere smile, "I mean it though, I don't know what I would do without you."

"Arizona, please just go and talk to Callie. She's probably eating away at herself for what happened earlier; you know her. Go save her from her own guilt." Teddy practically pushed the blonde out of the scrub room and down to the elevator where they went their separate ways.

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Callie had been manning the pit for the last 6 hours and as it was a slow day, she had nothing better to do than to think of Arizona. Her wife had come to her in a vulnerable state and she had once again single-handedly ruined another good thing. Arizona was stubborn and if she thought Callie thought entering the Paralympics was stupid and said she was no longer going to try out, then very little would be able to sway her decision.

"Hey," Callie heard from behind her. She span around to see Arizona standing there still dressed in her scrub cap, fiddling with her hands as she shuffled from one foot to the other.

"Hey," Callie whispered back.

"I'm sorry," they both said spontaneously.

"Callie you have absolutely nothing to apologize for. I overreacted and I'm sorry; I said that I wouldn't shut down on you and that's exactly what I've done."

"I really am happy that you want to do something this amazing, Arizona," Callie said genuinely. Arizona smiled sweetly and they both just stared at each other for a few moments.

"Let's go home. I wanna hang out with my girls," Arizona said after their intimate moment was interrupted by the busy life of the ER.

"I have to work for another half an hour," Callie pouted.

"Then I'll go and pick up Sof and make us dinner," Arizona said as she leaned over and gave Callie a whisper of a kiss against her lips.

"Thank you, Callie," she whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too, Arizona and I want you to know that I am incredibly proud of you no matter what you decide to do and I will support you in whatever you choose to do." Arizona smiled before running off to find her daughter playing with Zola in day-care. She walked home, hand in hand with her daughter and prepared the dinner whilst listening to Sofia singing along to herself in her baby voice before Callie walked through the doors, dropping her bag on the sofa.

"Honey, I'm home," she called in the direction of the kitchen. She smiled as she scooped up Sofia from the floor, placed her in her high chair and set the plates out ready for their dinner. Callie and Arizona enjoyed an evening of luxury in each other's company before Callie brought up another bomb-shell.

"What about surgery?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Arizona asked as she played with her wife's fingers, kissing each one as they lay in bed before gazing lovingly into her wife's eyes.

"If you have to train for the Paralympics, then I doubt you will have any time to continue being a surgeon, at least until after Rio but that's in 2016."

"Oh," Arizona replied, "honestly, I hadn't really given much thought to that. I've only really just been thinking about running again. I think I just want to hit the ground at a run, feel the wind in my hair and the fastened beat of my heart. It's a thrill for me Callie and I can't wait." Arizona grinned up at her wife and Callie smiled down at her, her joy infecting both of them. Callie still had some doubts in the work department but she was willing to let it go for her wife's happiness, for now.

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**Any thoughts? Reviews are always appreciated **


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